Yarn conditioning process



Patented A 23, 1940 A UNITED STATES YARN CONDITIONING PROCESS Joseph B. Dickey and James B. Normington, Rochester, N. Y., assignors to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing. 'Application December 17, 1938,

' Serial No. 246,520

7 Claims.

This invention relates to conditioning of textile yarns and more particularly to the conditioning of filaments and yarns composed of organic derivatives of .cellulose such as cellulose acetate, cellulose propionate, cellulose acetate propionate, and cellulose acetate butyrate, to render them more amenable to textile operations such as knitting and the like.

As is well known in the manufacture of yarns, 0 particularly those composed of or containing cellulose organic derivatives, it is necessary to treat the yarn in order to reduce the tendency toward breakage of the individual filaments or fibers when they are subjected to various mechanical strains and to lubricate the yarn in order to facilitate handling in such operations as spinning, twisting, winding and reeling. It is also necessary to treat yarn to adapt it for use as warp or filling or for the manufacture of various types of knitted fabrics. In knitting, it is particularly important that the yarn be soft and pliable in order that it may conform readily to the contour of the needles and thus produce a closely knit fabric free from such defects as stitch distortion, pin holes, laddering, and the like. Heretofore it has been proposed to employ softening agents such as polyhydric alcohols and similar agents as ingredients of yarn conditioning or lubricating formulas, generally in connection with mineral, animal or vegetable oils. It has been found, however, that most of the known softening agents and the various formulas containing them have certain drawbacks, one of the most serious of which is high vapor pressure, and in sufiicient solvent power for the lubricants with which they are used, and it is accordingly necessary to employ blending agents or emulsifying agents in order to obtain operable yarn treating formulas. In addition, many of the known softening and lubricating agents are insufficiently soluble in water to permit satisfactory removal by aqueous scour baths.

This invention has as its principal object to provide an entirely new classof yarn conditioning agents which are particularly adapted for the treatment of yarns composed of or containing organic derivatives of cellulose and capable of deelectrifying and in some cases lubricating, softening and otherwise rendering such yarns more the lubricating action of various lubricants when I applied to such yarns; A still further object is .to provide yarn conditioning formulas which-can some cases too drastic a solvent action on the yarn. Many of such agents possess slight or in-,

be readily removed from the yarns by the usual scour baths. an improved method for the conditioning of yarns, particularly those composed of or containing'organic derivatives of cellulose such as acetate,

V whereby accumulations of static electricity on the V yarn is prevented andthe yarn is rendered capable of employment in a variety of textile operations where static charges would be highly objectional as in the preparation of cut staple fibers. Another object is to provide an improved type of yarn which is especially amenable to textile operations including circular' knitting, weaving, spinning, and the like. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

These objects are accomplished by the following invention which, in its broader aspects, comprises the discovery that salts of dioxane having the formula:

where :z: is a small whole number at least one; Z is a substituent selected from the group consisting of metal and ammonium; y is a substituent selected from the group'consisting of OH,OZ and NH2, may be used as yarn conditioning agents and particularly as softening agents, with or without the addition of animal, mineral, orlvegetable oils, in the treatment of yarns composed of or containing organicderivatives of cellulose. The acids used are prepared by the interaction of a hydroxy acid or ester on-halogenated d1:- oxanes as described in our copendingapplication, Serial No. 291,395, filed Aug. 22, 1939. Half esters are prepared-in a similar manner. The various aminesalts of these acids may be prepared by any of the known methods. As a rule we prefer to treat the amine with a stoichiometric amount of the desired acid or acids, .or incertain cases an excess of the acid or amine may be used.

Inaccordance with the invention these com- 1 pounds may be applied directly to the yarn during or after spinning, or may be added to the spinning solution itself. We have foundthat these compounds have exceptional solvent powers which enable them. to dissolve mineral oils and I blown and unblown, drying and semi-drying, vegetable and animal oils and accordingly they may be, and preferably are, employed as ingredients of yarn conditioning or lubricating formulas in conjunction with agents which function wholly or partially as lubricants.

We have also found that the above mentioned compounds are particularly valuable as anti- A still further object is to provide Example 1 (Dioxane-2,3-glycolic acid ether butyl amino oleylamine salt) 'is applied to textile materials (silk, cotton, wool, cellulose acetate, viscose) by means of a bath, wick; roller, spray, etc., to facilitate their knitting, weaving, spinning, and the like. Yarns lubricated with the above'type of lubricant are of special value in the preparation of cut staple fibers. These fibers may be oiled before or after cutting. Some of the other amines that we may use are morpholine, piperidine, ethylamine, ammonia, trimethylbenzyl ammonium hy-- droxide, triethanolamine, cyclohexylamine, dimethyl cyclohexylamine, tetrahydrofurfurylamine, ditetrahydrofurfurylamine, dibutylamine, diacetoneamine, ethylene diamine, etc.

Example 2 A conditioning liquid is ma'de up as follows:

, Parts fif-tetrahydroiuriuryloxyethyl ether 90 cm no-o-oHr-co-o Q 1 110-0-0111-0 -0NH4 (Dionne-2, 3-glycolicacid ether ammonium potassium salt.) Water and applied to textile materials such as silk, wool, cellulose acetate, etc., as in Example 1,

50 yarn is intended primarily for knitting, the

amount of conditioning liquid may vary .fro-m- 4-25% by weight of the yarn and if for weaving, between 1-5% by weight of the yarn.

Cellulose acetate filaments treated as described above are quite soft and pliable and give improved results in various textile operations such as weaving, knitting, etc. and especially in the production of out staple fibers.

Other examples of yarn conditioning composi- 60 tions which may be applied to various types of yarns, particularly those composed of or contain ing cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate propionate,

cellulose acetate butyrate, and similar cellulose 65 vention are as follows:

. Example 3 CH3 (Dioxane-2,3-lactic acid ether ammonium methyl amine salt.)

Olive oil".-. Glycerol acetone a, as

merely for purposes of illustration and not as a- If the organic acid esters in accordance with our in- Example 4 (Dioxane-2-lactic acid ctl1er-3-glycolic acid other bisbutylamine salt.)

Blown olive oil 5 Tetrahydrofurfuryl lactate 30 Example 5 (Dioxane-2,3-fl-hydr oxy propionic acid ether bisdiamylamine salt.)

Blown neat's-foot oil 95 Example 6 O CaH1 (Di0xane-2,3-a-hydroxyvaleric acid ether trihexylamine (mono) salt.)

Sperm oil 97 Example 7 O (Dioxane-Z-glycolic acid ether glycolic acid amide ether.)

Water 1 Blown sperm oil 94 dicetylamine salt-3- Ezcample 8 (Dioxane-2,3-glycolic acid ether ethyl amine tetrahydrofurfury amine salt.)

Teaseed oil 90-95 Example 9 CHa-CH: C 2 CHO-?HCO-OH-HN CH; CHz-CH1 CHz-CHa on, CHOCHCO-OHHN on,

0 on. ciao-om (Dioxanc-2,3-lactyl other piperidine salt.)

Blown oil Drethylane glycol dlpropionate Example 1 0 (Dioxane-2,3-glycolic acid ether oleylamine tetramethylammonium hydroxide salt.)

Mineraloil 95 r suitable means.

liquid applied may vary between 5-25% by weight liquid may even be applied to the yarn after I Example 11 Parts Blown olive oil Blown neats-foot oil Di-methoxyethyl succinate Example 12 Tetrahydroiurfuryl tetrahydroiuroate O C2H4 CH3 CiHi (Dioxane 2,3 lactic acid other bismorpholine salt.)

Example 13 Water Wetsr sol cellulose ester CH-O-CHz-CO-OH D itetrahydroiurfuryl amine salt 15 on,

CH-O-OHz-C 0-OH Ditetrahydroiurfuryl amine salt (Dioxane-2,3-glycolic acid ether bisditetrahydrm furfuryl amine salt.)

Sulfonat ed castor oil 5 Example 14 O H-O CHr-C O-O N114 ammonium salt.

Blown olive il 95 Any of the above compositions may be applied to the yarn intended for use in circular knitting by means of a bath;wick, spray, roller, pad or any The amount of conditioning of the yarn. Usually, however, the amount of conditioning liquid applied is about 10-15% by weight of the yarn. Yarn composed of cellulose acetate conditioned as described above gives excellent results when used in the circularknitting process.

As will be apparent from the above examples and description the conditioning agents of our invention may be applia bye wide variety of methods. For example. we may employ the agent as an ingredient of the spinning dope from which the filaments are formed, the amount of the agent so employed depending upon a number of factors, such as the particu ar cellulose derivative used in making the yarn, the solvent or solvent combination used in making up the spinning solution, and the degree of softness or pliability desired in the yarn, etc.

If the conditioning agent is to be applied to the yarn after spinning, this -may be done bybringing the yarn in contact with a wick, roll, or felt wet therewith, or the liquid may be applied by immersion, spray, or otherwise. The particular point at which the liquid is applied may vary. It may, for example, be applied to the yarn inside or outside the spinning cabinet, between the guide and godet roll, between the godet or other roll or guide and the point of winding and/or twisting. In some cases, the

winding onto cones, spools, bobbins, or the like or by the so-called bobbin to bobbin method. In the case of staple fiber manufacture, the liquid may be applied to the yarn prior to, or after cutting into staple lengths.

The amount of the agent so employed will vary widely depending upon the results desired, the specific nature of the material to which the agent is applied, the use to which the yarn is eventually tobe put and other factors. For example, in a given case where a cellulose organic acid ester yarn such as a yarn composed of cellulose acetate, isintended for knitting, about 4 to 25% or more by weight, based on the weight of the dry yarn, may be satisfactory, while if the yarn is intended for weaving, the amount may vary between about 1 and 5%.

' Although in the above examples we have referred primarily to yarn treating compositions containing only the conditioning agent and an oil, other ingredients such as solvents, non-solvents, emulsifying agents, blending agents and the like, may be added within the scope of our invention. Likewise, various dyes or other coloring matter may be included in case it is desired is desired to control the solvent or' softeningaction of the conditioning agent, the amount of the agent may be adjusted as, for example, by reducing the amount of the agent and correspondingly increasing the amount of oil or other ingredient.

While we have described our invention with particular reference to the treatment of yarns composed of organic derivatives of cellulose such as cellulose acetate, the conditioningagents and formu as described herein are applicable to the conditioning of many other. types of cellulose de rivative yarns such as those composed of or containing cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate,

cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, benzyl cellulose and others, as well as to the conditioning of silk, wool, cotton, viscose and other natural or artificial materials.

The term yarn as used herein and in the claims is to be understood as including a single filament, a plura ity of filaments associated into the form of a thread, either of high or low twist,

single or multiple threads associated or twisted together, composite threads composed of a mixture of natural and artificial filaments or a composite thread formed by twisting together individual strands of natural or artificial materials, as well as cut staple fibers produced from natural and/or artificial filaments or threads and spun yarn produced from such staple fibers.

As indicated above, the yarn conditioning agents of our invention are exceptionally good solvents for a wide variety of mineral, blown and unblown, drying and semi-drying animal and vegetable oils such as cottonseed, olive, castor, neats-fcot, sperm and otheroils. This enables them to be used with any of such oils in making up a variety of yarn treating formulas of varying composition.

The yarn conditioning method and composiof out staple fibers.

tions of our invention possess many outstanding advantages. The fundamental and outstanding characteristic of the agents employed inaccordance with the invention is their ability to deelectrify yarns, especially those composed of or containing organic derivatives of cellulose such as cellulose acetate and render them amenable to various textile operations, especially operations such as those involved in the manufacture Another outstanding characteristic of these compounds is their exceptional solvent power for a wide variety of mineral, animal, and vegetable oils and their ability to act as lubricating assistants in conjunction with these oils when applied to such yarns. In addition, due to their solubility in water, they may be readily removed from yarns and fabrics by means of the usual aqueous scour baths. By

employing the yarn conditioning agents and method of our invention as herein described, one i, is enabled to obtain highly satisfactory results -in the manufacture of yarns and woven fabrics and especially the production from these yarns of closely knit fabrics free from defects such as 25 pin holes, stitch distortion, laddering and the like. What we claim is: 1. The process of conditioning yarn to render it-more amenable to textile operations including 30 knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture of staple fibers, and the like, which comprises applying a lubricating and anti-static com-position containing as its essential lubricating and antistatic component a salt of dioxane having the formula:

to render it more amenable to textile operations including knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture'of staple fibers, and the like which comprises applying a lubricating and anti-static composition containing as its essential lubricating and anti-static component a salt of dioxane having the formula:

where :c is a small whole number at least one; Z is HzC 60 an organic or inorganic base; 1 is a substituent selected from the group consisting of OH, OZ, and -NH2.

3. The process of conditioning yarn composed of or containing cellulose acetate to render it 65 more amenable to textile operations including knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture of staple fibers, and the like which comprises applying a lubricating and anti-static composition containing as its essential lubricatingand anti-static 7O component a salt of dioxane having the formula:

where a: is a small whole number at least one; Z is an organic or inorganic base; y is a substituent selected from the group consisting of OH, OZ, and NH2.

4. The process of conditioning yarn composed of or containing cellulose acetate to render, it more amenable to textile operations including knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture of staple fibers, and the like, which comprises applying a lubricating and anti-static composition 10 containing as its essential lubricating and antistatic component a salt of dioxane having the formula:

where x is a small whole number at least one; Z is an organic or inorganic base; yis a substituent selected from thegroup consisting of OH, OZ, and NH2.

6. Textile yarns composed of or containing organic derivatives of cellulose amenable to textile operations including knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture of staple fibers, and the like impregnated with a conditioning agent comprising a salt of dioxane having the formula:

where a: is a small, whole number at least one; Z is an organic or inorganic base; 11 isa substituent selected from the group consisting of OH, OZ, and NI-Iz.

' '7. Textile yarns composed of or containing organic derivatives of cellulose 4 amenable to textile operations including knitting, weaving, spinning, the manufacture of staple fibers, and the like impregnated with a conditioning agent comprising a salt of dioxane having the formula:

0 .F 1110 o0-(0Hi),-00 -oz H, HC-O-(OHzh-C o-v where a: is a small whole number at least one; -Z is an organic or inorganic base; 1 is a substituent selected from the group consisting of OH, OZ, and NH2, and a textile lubricant.

JOSEPH B. DICKEY.

JAMES B. NORMINGTON. 

